Escalate a Task with a Jira Status
Sometimes a task needs the attention of someone else: a manager has to decide, a budget is missing, a customer waits too long. In BPMN this is an escalation. Unlike an error, the work can go on: the escalation starts an additional path, for example a task for the manager.
Reference: BPMN Escalation Events explains the escalation event in the BPMN standard, with all its positions.
Available from Flower 3.7.0.
With Flower, a person escalates by moving the work item into an escalation status, for example Escalated. An escalation boundary event on the task catches it.
Escalation boundary events are available in Flower for Jira Cloud on Forge and in Flower for Data Center. The Connect app of Flower does not escalate. See Moving to Atlassian Forge.
How It Works
- The activity has an escalation boundary event with a Jira status, for example Escalated.
- A person moves the work item into this status. The workflow of the work type must offer it. Usually it is an open status (To Do or In Progress category), not a done status.
- Flower starts the path of the escalation event at once, while the work item is still open.
| Escalation boundary event | What happens |
|---|---|
| Non-interrupting (dashed border) | The escalation path starts in addition. The work item stays open, and when it is resolved, the process continues on the normal outgoing flow. |
| Interrupting | The activity ends, only the escalation path goes on. Flower ends the work item like a terminated one: it moves it into a cancel status, for example Cancelled, with a resolution such as Won’t Do. |
Every move into the escalation status is a new escalation: if the work item leaves the status and comes back, the escalation path starts again.
The escalation does not have to come from a person. A Jira Automation rule can move the work item into the escalation status, for example when a service level agreement (SLA) is breached or a due date has passed. The process then escalates automatically.
Model the Event in the Editor
- Drag an intermediate event onto the edge of the activity.
- Use the wrench icon to change it into an escalation boundary event, usually the non-interrupting one.
- Give it a label, for example Escalated.
- In the properties panel, open Escalation and select the Jira status. The list shows the statuses of the work type of the activity. If the activity has no work type, the one of its swimlane or of the Flower settings is used.
- Connect the event to the activity that should follow, for example Manager decides.
In the BPMN file, the status is a BPMN escalation: its name and escalation code are the name of the status. Flower compares the names without case, accents, and apostrophes.
Error, Escalation, or Conditional Event?
| Error boundary event | Escalation boundary event | Conditional boundary event | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trigger | Work item resolved in the status | Work item moved into the status | Condition true when the work item is resolved |
| When | When the task ends | While the task is open | When the task ends |
| Meaning | The task failed | Someone else has to help | Any outcome |
| Interrupting | Always | Interrupting or non-interrupting | Interrupting or non-interrupting |
What’s Next?
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BPMN Escalation Events: The escalation event in the BPMN standard, with all its positions.
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End a Task with an Error Status: When the task fails or is cancelled.
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Conditional Boundary Events: Branch on any outcome of a task.
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Set Jira Due Dates with Timer Events: Escalate automatically after a time.